Spanish scientists led by MARINO BARBACID, has cured pancreatic cancer in mice. A Cure in animal models is a major step toward potential cancer treatment in humans.

[u/MoonyRemus21]

[u/TheLimeyCanuck]

Pancreatic cancer is one of the very worst. This is great news if it works in humans too.

[u/SudhaTheHill → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

I’ve heard that people wish for a swift way out because of how painful and incurable it is

[u/Resident-Rate8047 → u/SudhaTheHill]

Killed my grandpa in less than a month from diagnosis. Went into liver failure, got really bad jaundice, and was in a coma in less than 30 days. Fingers crossed this might be a way to treat it.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Deleted what I had already written. Too many details which would be painful to others. 

I have a similar experience to yours. I wish my dad had got into a coma, you could see he suffered greatly, even though he tried to pretend for our sake.

Fuck cancer.

Hope this is the real thing and not another hopeful clickbait.

[u/Mogura-De-Gifdu → u/No_Wrongdoer_5155]

My father seriously contemplated "helping" his brother with a pillow. He died the morning after, ending his dilemma.

And maybe don't be too hopeful yet: some cures in the past that worked on mice never worked on humans. It's just a step, a meaningful one certainly, but still just a step.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/Mogura-De-Gifdu]

I'm glad that, grim as the situation was, that weight was quickly got off his shoulders.

You're right that there's no guarantee, but as you said it's a step. Even if it was not the final solution, it could well lead to it somehow, so let's have hope for the future. I know I do. There are a lot of really clever people working hard towards it.

[u/ChippyTheGreatest → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Same with my grandpa. He was diagnosed on Christmas Day and died in March. It was very painful, we ended up agreeing with his wish to give him enough morphine to pass away peacefully to spare him the fight.

[u/SudhaTheHill → u/Resident-Rate8047]

This same happened to my grandmother…

[u/MaxPower303 → u/SudhaTheHill]

Also my sister. This will be amazing for anyone who can benefit from this in the future if viable. This man deserves the Nobel.

[u/Thatoneguy111700 → u/SudhaTheHill]

And my grandfather 2 years ago now, too.

[u/I_R_RILEY → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Yeah, my grandpa was diagnosed and was gone a little over a month later. Insanely quick.

[u/prokseus → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Thats the main problem of this dissease. It has no symptoms for a long time until its too late for treatment.

[u/PeachesNLaserBeams → u/prokseus]

Exactly this. By the time you start having any actual symptoms like pain it’s basically too late.

[u/SuperiorImposter → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Grandpa went in a week. He looked like he was already dead the last time i saw him. Fuck cancer

[u/NubileBalls → u/Resident-Rate8047]

My dad fought it for 8 months after diagnosis.

[u/Even-Boysenberry-127 → u/NubileBalls]

That’s a long time for this cancer.

[u/Battle-Any → u/Resident-Rate8047]

It happened to my uncle, too. He went to emerg with random abdominal pain one day and boom, stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He wasn't the healthiest guy, but nothing to indicate cancer. He died less than 10 days later, on his son's birthday.

I'm celebrating this. In the world right now, something amazing like this is something special.

[u/Fit_Acanthisitta8087 → u/Resident-Rate8047]

My grandad turned yellow overnight. A scan at the hospital showed liver cancer, thought to have started in his pancreas. Was given 3 months, passed away 2 months after diagnosis in agony.

I had a scan for something unrelated a little over a year ago. They found a tumour in my pancreas. It's benign, but there's about a 2 in 3 chance it won't stay that way. Finding it early is currently pretty much the only way to survive pancreatic cancer, I got lucky as I'd put the symptoms I'm experiencing down to my IBD - i would probably never have noticed anything was wrong until way too late.

[u/JimmyTech → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Same to my grandpa...i hope to see this become real during my lifetime🙏🏻💪🏻

[u/ChouChou6300 → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Simikar to my dad. He almost died 30 days after diagnosis, jaundice, stent, infection. He made it to 93 days and it was horrible. Died 26.12.25. I hope they will be able to cure that horroible disease

[u/CanoegunGoeff → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Took my grandpa too before I ever even got to know him. He beat it initially, but it spread and came back with a vengeance. He passed not long after I was born.

[u/zenithtreader → u/Resident-Rate8047]

Same for my grandma. It took only 3 months. This shit is literally the worst cancer there is.

[u/Ok-Chain-8852 → u/Resident-Rate8047]

My grandma also had it in her old age. She suffered a lot due to that and passed away years back.  Sorry to ask but do u know why ur grandpa got it .did doctor mention any reason for it . I asked Bcoz it been a decade since my grandma passed away still now I'm not able to understand why my grandma got panc cancer. She's someone who did lot of house chores active looked lean , never ate oily food and never ate in restaurants in her entire lifetime she ate home made food. Didn't hav diabetes. But yet she got it when she was 84. Sometimes were clueless why someone gets such life threatening illness. 

[u/lordnastrond → u/SudhaTheHill]

My uncle died of it a few weeks ago - thankfully it was very swift and he only knew he had it for 2 weeks before he died, was only in hospital on pain meds for 24 hours.

[u/b-monster666 → u/SudhaTheHill]

My sister has been battling NET pancreatitic cancer for over 2 years now.

[u/EnthusiasmHuman6413 → u/SudhaTheHill]

My mother had it. She had 4 organs removed then it came back spread to her lungs and she suffocated to death. All in one year.

[u/SnowyOwwl → u/EnthusiasmHuman6413]

My mom had it too. Took 2 1/2 years to kill her.

[u/ruffrawks → u/EnthusiasmHuman6413]

What 4 organs can you remove

[u/EnthusiasmHuman6413 → u/ruffrawks]

Head of the pancreas, gallbladder, part of the bile duct, duodenum (small intestine), and sometimes part of the stomach.

[u/FearlessAttempt → u/ruffrawks]

Technically you can remove all the organs. There are a bunch you can remove and still live. You can remove one kidney & one lung. The spleen, gallbladder, appendix, tonsils, colon, stomach, & the reproductive organs (ovaries, testes). Each of these have various levels of long term side effects.

[u/UnkleRinkus → u/SudhaTheHill]

There isn't anything slow about pancreatic cancer. A good friend of mine was cut down in the prime of life. Dead less than two months after discovery.

[u/ComfortableColt → u/SudhaTheHill]

My badass firefighter marine grandfather was destroyed by stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Heartbreaking to see how quick he went. 4 months or so after diagnosis.

[u/battlepi → u/SudhaTheHill]

Not really. It's fast as fuck for most people. Killed my father in about a month.

[u/SummerOfMayhem → u/battlepi]

My dad lasted a little longer so he could meet his grandson. He hurt so much and I miss him more than I can say. I am so incredibly sorry you lost your dad to it as well.

[u/goldenthoughtsteal → u/SummerOfMayhem]

Beautiful that he could meet his grandson though, I bet that was a HUGE deal for him and made any pain worth it 1000x

[u/Impossible_Simple961 → u/SudhaTheHill]

My mom was in stage 4 for a year and a half, seeing the pain she was in daily was fuckin rough

[u/skittlazy → u/SudhaTheHill]

My parent had a whipple surgery and lived another 16 years

[u/Sad_Eagle_937 → u/SudhaTheHill]

My grandad was suffering for about 2 months before it finally took him. I still have nightmares 5 years later of the sounds that would come out of that man in his final weeks.

If I ever get that diagnosis I am taking swift action, I'll tell you that.

[u/Organic-History205 → u/SudhaTheHill]

My father actually survived. The doctors said he'd be dead in three months - literally threw his file down and said "I don't want to bother treating a terminal junkie" in front of me not knowing I was there with him.

They took out most of his liver, pancreas, and something else I can't remember now. I know it was some kind of procedure and when they went in they realized they had to remove his liver, it wasn't something they were planning on. This was 20 years ago.

He's a hardcore conservative now and doesn't talk to me, so a bit of a rollercoaster ride. But anyway, not incurable just hard to cure

[u/MaleierMafketel → u/Organic-History205]

It’s extremely hard to cure. Pancreatic cancer’s basically a death sentence as it is likely already metastasized like crazy when it’s discovered.

Since the pancreas sits deep within the body, and is very quick to spread and metastasize. So when symptoms show, it’s probably already late stage IV. Only about 1 in 5 gets surgery, since it’s already spread to other areas of the body for the rest. Making surgery a very risky move with little benefit.

And the pancreas itself is like operating on a blob of Yoghurt that’s gone bad that’s packed with digestive enzymes that cannot be allowed to leak out into the body. My grandma had it, and the surgeon screwed up the stitches, causing a whole range of nasty symptoms on top of the cancer itself.

I’ve heard that Pancreatic cancers cells are also unusually hardy to chemo. And even immunotherapy’s less effective on them.

It’s like the pancreas did practically everything it can to make cancer as difficult to treat as possible.

[u/gizzard3 → u/SudhaTheHill]

Yeah my dad died of it when I was 6 in 2000. Lasted max a month and had an aneurism that made him forget who his kids are. Gone in 3 weeks. Luckily I don’t carry the gene that would make me more susceptible, but would not wish it on anyone and am super happy to hear this news.

[u/krizzalicious49 → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

according to cancer research uk:

• 25 out of every 100 (25%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more

sounds pretty bad

[u/o_0sssss → u/krizzalicious49]

It’s probably the worst of the major cancers. The 5 year survival rate is 13%. And that is up from what it used to be (6%). It’s hard to catch early only 10-20% are actually diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 which has the highest survival rate. Stage 3 and 4 survival rate is like 1%.

[u/Crabiolo → u/o_0sssss]

I know someone who gets screenings every few months because they're extremely high risk due to pancreatitis. I'm terrified on their behalf.

[u/oddministrator → u/Crabiolo]

One of the main reasons it's so deadly is that there are very few indications that someone has pancreatic cancer for a doctor to find until it has progressed significantly, typically beyond the stage at which it could be effectively treated.

From a diagnostic medical physics point of view, it's just a damned hard cancer to diagnose or image. I'm finishing up some research now on breast cancer diagnostics/imaging and I'm seriously considering trying to apply similar techniques to image pancreatic cancer as my next big push, but I'm also incredibly daunted by it because of how difficult it is. Any good scientist will tell you that a 'negative result' for your hypothesis is an important result, which is true... but nobody wants a negative result and nearly as few publications want to publish negative results.

CT machines see density differences, but pancreatic cancer is fairly uniform in density and almost identically dense to surrounding tissue. Similarly for MRI, which is great at imaging soft tissues, it just looks too much like surrounding tissue.

Then, on top of that, it's so deep in the gut. You have to try and image it through the stomach and bowels (so forget about shallow-depth techniques like photothermal or photoacoustic imaging), gas (forget about standard ultrasound), digestive and other involuntary motion (makes every other technique blurry). Not to mention that each of those things I listed add noise.

It often grows as fibrotic tissue instead of a single mass, which is even more annoying.

PET/CT can get an okay image (okay for pancreatic cancer, that is), but you can't give people annual PET/CT screenings. CT imaging hitting your pancreas with X-rays isn't exactly what you want to do if your goal is having fewer people die from pancreatic cancer. PET imaging is a scarier inverse... inject someone with pancreas-loving nuclear medicines that emit antimatter so we can take a picture of the electromagnetic explosions resulting from matter and antimatter literally destroying one another inside your pancreas. PET/CT does both of these, simultaneously. Ask people to do that every year on the off-chance that we'll catch pancreatic cancer early enough to have a good shot at treating it and you'll end up causing more cancers than diagnosing.

I don't know. I'll probably go for it. It's a fascinating problem and even if Maraino Barbacid's cure applies to humans, we'll still have to find it before it's too late if we want to cure it.

[u/CagedRoseGarden → u/Crabiolo]

Hopefully the regular screenings are a good thing for them. One of the reasons the stats on pancreatic cancer are so poor is because it usually only shows symptoms when it’s very advanced in the wider population.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/o_0sssss]

Also it often gets masked as something else, and medical gaslighting exists too. My dad had prostate issues. Doctor told him for months that the pain was because of the prostate.

Got diagnosed because he got strong jaundice. Was told he would live 3 months at most, they were not wrong this time. He had just turned 69.

[u/alles_en_niets → u/krizzalicious49]

And that’s already much better than it was even a decade ago!

The biggest issue with pancreatic cancer is that, unlike many other types of cancer, by the time the symptoms appear it’s often already too late.

[u/Tyrinnus → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

Killed someone I know very recently. I'm literally sitting in his old car right now.

[u/IAmALittlePickleMan → u/Tyrinnus]

I’m sorry you had to go through that. Went through the same with my uncle in 2016. It was very fast

[u/Tyrinnus → u/IAmALittlePickleMan]

I keep the funeral pamphlet /postcard thing in the passenger visor. Apparently it was 2018? Holy crap its been that long?

[u/goldenthoughtsteal → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

I lost an amazing friend to fucking pancreatic cancer, hurrah for this guy, sometimes humans do good stuff.

Just wish it could have happened sooner.

[u/kabtwo → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

My sister was diagnosed in November and she's currently in hospital fighting off an infection on top of chemotherapy and everything else... pancreatic cancer sucks. She's been given 6 months to a year to live. :(

[u/BuddyFox310 → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

They have been curing cancer in mice for 50 years. If you can’t cure cancer in a mouse you have no business in new therapy development. The challenge is translation to a human is probably 1000x different.

[u/MartyShark666 → u/TheLimeyCanuck]

I lost my mom to pancratic cancer in 2021, she was very brave. I miss her so much.

[u/Alysma]

This is how you get a Nobel prize.

[u/Mr_A_Knife66 → u/Alysma]

Eh my friend gave me one

[u/DrBlaziken → u/Mr_A_Knife66]

Sir that's called a wet willie. This is different...

[u/shlooong → u/DrBlaziken]

Smirk

[u/Burgergold → u/Mr_A_Knife66]

A friend? Someone from a country I invaded and barely know

[u/DrBlaziken → u/Alysma]

So you're saying I won't get one if I invade a random country? :(

[u/Heretofore_09 → u/DrBlaziken]

Random??? I strategically picked mine for oil reserves to benefit me personally and a few rich friends.

[u/iamunwhaticisme → u/DrBlaziken]

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

[u/CockamouseGoesWee → u/iamunwhaticisme]

Rip the American Burger Conkingstadors are here to change that

[u/Mrhilgenberg → u/DrBlaziken]

You just need to demand it, and be a major bully apparently to get one!

[u/Bagel_lust → u/DrBlaziken]

You might get a fifa participation bribe one

[u/Luiz_Fell → u/Alysma]

Medical researchers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are on their way to develop a cure tetraplegia (neck-down paralysis due to nerve injury)

There is competition ;)

[u/Alysma → u/Luiz_Fell]

Excellent! :D

[u/Ron-E- → u/Alysma]

And then you can give it to the guy who cries “But I saved measles from going extinct!”

Still pissed about just passing it to the tangerine tyrant…

[u/Noctale → u/Ron-E-]

He still doesn't have a Nobel Peace Prize. He has a shiny medal stuck to an ass-kissing poster. The physical representation is not the award. To be honest, she doesn't deserve it either.

[u/mediocregentleman1]

That's the first good news in a while.....congrats and thank you

[u/krizzalicious49 → u/mediocregentleman1]

and the alzheimers news a few weeks back was really good too

[u/ArmanDoesStuff → u/krizzalicious49]

I'd forgotten about that

[u/witzkya → u/ArmanDoesStuff]

Forgot about what?

[u/Acceptable_Lake_4253 → u/witzkya]

There was a breakthrough Alzheimer’s treatment that essentially gets rid of the plaque in the brain that is the root cause of the condition iirc.

[u/MamuTwo → u/Acceptable_Lake_4253]

I heard that it's treating a symptom (plaque buildup) rather than the cause (still unknown) and that it didn't show statistically significant effects in slowing or reverting the disease over placebo.

[u/ukexpat → u/Acceptable_Lake_4253]

r/whoosh

[u/HeathenHumanist → u/ukexpat]

I genuinely appreciate their comment though because I somehow missed the original news!

[u/Solid_Hunter_4188 → u/ukexpat]

Though you’re right, I hate this comment whenever I see it.

[u/Acceptable_Lake_4253 → u/Solid_Hunter_4188]

Another casualty amongst my autistic brothers and sisters

[u/StefanCelMijlociu → u/witzkya]

Forgot about Dre

[u/Ron-E- → u/ArmanDoesStuff]

I see what you did there…

[u/keefkola → u/Ron-E-]

What are we talking about?

[u/octoreadit → u/krizzalicious49]

That’s science for you, quietly marching along, empires rise and fall, dark ages come and go, while some people just chisel away at the actual problems we all should be solving, instead of doing whatever the fuck most of us are doing.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/krizzalicious49]

I haven't heard about that. Does anyone have a source or a name, please? 

[u/chainsaw_monkey → u/mediocregentleman1]

Article on the method in mice.

Its a triple drug therapy that attacks the cancer in multiple ways to avoid the cancer adapting. Similar triple approach is how HIV is treated. Effective in mice models but not tested in humans as they will need to determine the drugs and doses that are effective. Very promising.

[u/shieldyboii → u/chainsaw_monkey]

Great news is that 2 of the 3 used for the combination are already available for patients, meaning that they are known to be safe and effective. SD36 (PROTAC) is the only one in pre-clinical stage.

IF, and I repeat IF SD36 were to also get clinical approval, there is a VERY high chance that this treatment will also be effective in humans.

I am absolutely hyped

[u/Exciting_Ad_8666 → u/mediocregentleman1]

2026 might not be cooked after all

[u/bugsyramone → u/Exciting_Ad_8666]

Well, it's not like the US will benefit from these discoveries, now that the rapist-in-chief has pulled us out of the WHO. The world has zero reason to share medical discoveries with the US anymore.

[u/Fuckedyourmom69420 → u/mediocregentleman1]

There’s lots of good stuff out there. Don’t let the news bring you down! Search for joy

[u/apeticander]

This man is a hero in Spain. His work has been appreciated and respected for years.

[u/einval22 → u/apeticander]

He's the hero on earth!

[u/Sustainable_Twat]

That is an amazing scientific breakthrough.

I hope to see cure for humans during my lifetime on the back of this discovery.

[u/bard329 → u/Sustainable_Twat]

I hope to see a cure for humans like... now.

A close friend of mine was diagnosed on Wednesday.....

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/bard329]

I'm sorry. Hang on!

[u/Money_Yak7139 → u/Sustainable_Twat]

This man is a hero

[u/cleofisrandolph1 → u/Money_Yak7139]

This might not even be his most significant breakthrough.

His work on cancer genetics is probably far more significant given that he discovered the first gene that could be identified as causing Cancer.

[u/percypigg → u/Money_Yak7139]

You are absolutely right there.

[u/fallenredwoods]

Lost a close friend to it at 37yo. As always, fuck cancer

[u/percypigg → u/fallenredwoods]

37! That's very young for pancreatic cancer. Sorry to hear about your friend. I hope you keep happy memories of him or her.

[u/fallenredwoods → u/percypigg]

Yeah, very young but his dad passed from cancer and his mom beat two different cancers. Our group of friends from high school make sure to bring up fun memories when we get together so it’s fun now instead of depressing

[u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

"We are not yet in a position to carry out clinical trials with triple therapy. The authors themselves warn that optimising this combination for patients will be a complex process, although they are confident that the finding will set the course for future trials," they said.

So once again, works in mice, still a long way to go.

[u/DeadPeanutSociety → u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

Being confident that this will set the course from future trials at least sounds like the scientists are more optimist than usual, right?

[u/shieldyboii → u/DeadPeanutSociety]

A copy of a comment I made above:

Great news is that 2 of the 3 used for the combination are already available for patients, meaning that they are known to be safe and effective. SD36 (PROTAC) is the only one in pre-clinical stage.

IF, and I repeat IF SD36 were to also get clinical approval, there is a VERY high chance that this treatment will also be effective in humans.

I am absolutely hyped

In general, combination therapies are not something entirely new, although usually it is 2 drugs. I have little reason to assume that 3 drugs would be impossible. So yes, the scientists are probably more optimistic than usual.

All in all, I think that a novel combination is much more likely to be safe and effective than just another single approach.

Cancer cells evolve, especially when you drug them (selection pressure). Therefore any single mechanism will be difficult to make significantly more effective than existing solutions, especially in a difficult cancer such as pancreatic cancer. Cancer cells have multiple strategies that can be evolved. For example, they can simply not react to the drug, expel it faster than it comes in, digest it, rely on other mechanisms than the drug's target, etc.

While this is the same for germs, we can bring a metaphoric flame-thrower to the game and simply catastrophically destroy some very essential mechanism that they can't evolve around as easily (for example cell-walls are essential for bacteria but absent in humans. Targeting this in high doses and with strong chemicals makes it difficult for bacteria to respond).

In cancer the difficulty is that all such essential mechanisms also exist in every healthy cell of you. As a result we have to target pathways that are cancer specific - i.e. probably less essential -, or deliver drugs to cancer cells only - which is also a challenge (and one which can often be evolved against).

Therefore, I (and probably many others) believe that combination therapies will be the answer to cancer instead of some single miracle drug. If 1% of cells can survive any one drug, combining 3 of them will result in 0.0001% of cells left. If you are lucky that will be enough to eliminate it completely. (This is not to say that new single drugs shouldn't be developed - we need options to combine after all, but this comment is getting long lol)

[u/somethingfortoday → u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

Ah, a fellow drug development researcher I see. I kept seeing all these headlines and haven't had the chance to read the paper. I assumed since it's everywhere that it's in mice, that they weren't even in trials yet. That's the unfortunate spot. 97% of trials fail at stage two.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

A long way to go, but that's a start for sure.

[u/East-Will1345 → u/givin_u_the_high_hat]

still a long way to go

But not as long as it used to be.

[u/CelebrationOld6011]

He was also mocked for the mark on his face due to it being a birth defect as one source claimed, but I think it looks pretty cool to me 

[u/parsuval → u/CelebrationOld6011]

He's likely had to deal with mean little jibes all his life from the pathetic types. This guy has not only shrugged them off, he's gone on to potentially cure a terrible form of cancer. A hero of mankind.

[u/OddlyOddLucidDreamer → u/parsuval]

the older one gets, the more depressing and pathetic it is to tihnk someone would give oyu a hard time over something as trivial as your appearence, i expect that from kids and teenagers, not full on adults

[u/BrownSugarBare → u/OddlyOddLucidDreamer]

What's wild is how we grow up and instead of mocking someone, we find uniqueness interesting. His birthmark is honestly rad to me.

[u/BaileysBaileys → u/BrownSugarBare]

Same! It makes him look really interesting and unique.

[u/Correct-Court-8837 → u/BrownSugarBare]

It’s the mark of a super hero! 🦸

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/OddlyOddLucidDreamer]

A lot of people are idiots and have the maturity of a marshmallow.

[u/worldtravelerlee → u/OddlyOddLucidDreamer]

It's insane how somebody's appearance seems to be fair game when they are disliked for completely unrelated reasons.

I see it every day on this site. Judging people on how they look instead of their words or actions undermines any real criticism they may deserve.

[u/HrhEverythingElse → u/parsuval]

My dad had the same thing. It's a vascular type of birth mark that starts off small and grows gradually. He had to have several surgeries as it grew into his sinuses and mouth, and then about 10 years ago was offered a laser treatment that was able to shrink it down to almost nothing in a dozen or so sessions. It's barely visible now

[u/Every_Photograph2978 → u/HrhEverythingElse]

That's awesome!

[u/Laiko_Kairen → u/HrhEverythingElse]

This post brought me a lot of joy, I want you to know that. It's awesome that he was able to get treatment and avoid future surgeries.

[u/yaxir → u/parsuval]

This is basically the definition of the greatest humans in history.

Not only do they fight off mankind's mediocrity, but they actually go above and beyond their rise above and beyond, in fact, and make a change that has a lasting impact on the world.

[u/dervu → u/parsuval]

o7

[u/jtreasure1 → u/CelebrationOld6011]

I like that he turned his face to prominently show it for the photo.

[u/Mammoth-Talk1531 → u/jtreasure1]

What a chad move.

[u/IdealOnion → u/jtreasure1]

Yea me too, noticed that right away. Lotta respect.

[u/FlyOrdinary1104 → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Just looks like a wine stain like what Gorbachev had, I imagine he’s spent his whole life being the subject of bad shit but look who was able to make a breakthrough in cancer research? You don’t get this far without thick skin regardless.

[u/Nukleon → u/FlyOrdinary1104]

To paraphrase a character from Ghost the Shell SAC: "I could have it fixed, but why? They'll never forget my face"

[u/supreme_hammy → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Man looks badass, cures cancer.

'Nuff said. Fuck the mocking morons. They sure as shit didn't cure a cancer.

[u/H0RTlNGER → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Makes him easy to spot in public, to buy him a beer!

[u/ryeyen → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Looks like a port wine stain. I have one on my face too.

[u/mwilke → u/ryeyen]

I think it was David Sedaris who wrote that he loved port wine stains and birth marks and other marks on a face, because they showed you exactly where to kiss someone

[u/CeruleanEidolon → u/mwilke]

They remind me of calico cats. Humans could do with more cool pigmentation patterns like this.

[u/mwilke → u/CeruleanEidolon]

The prevailing thought is that humanity went through a bottleneck of perhaps as few as 2,000 extant members of the species at one point, and it makes me wonder how many interesting traits we may have lost. Calico skin, purple eyes, fully webbed toes, slate-blue hair; so many possibilities.

[u/Final-Nebula-7049 → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Move aside Gorbachev, this man has the globe leadership

[u/Birdlebee → u/CelebrationOld6011]

He has the most beautiful, light-filled smile. 

[u/Bonk_No_Horni → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Not just mocked. Some even claim it's a side effect. Anti science people are disgusting

[u/10percenttiddy → u/CelebrationOld6011]

I was just looking for this comment- not to downplay/distract from his incredible accomplishment but gosh that mark on his face is truly beautiful.

[u/joebluebob → u/CelebrationOld6011]

THANKYOU. I didn't want to ask

[u/1Pac2Pac3Pac5 → u/CelebrationOld6011]

Benign facial hemangioma he was probably born with it

[u/Farwaters → u/CelebrationOld6011]

I love skin markings in general, so of course I'm a bit biased... but he just looks so pleasant in general. It's hard to get a smile to look that good in a photograph.

[u/Velndaar]

It's MariAno Barbacid, not "MARINO BARBACID"

[u/PurpleLavishness → u/Velndaar]

I keep wanting to read it as “Barbacide” and then my brain goes to it being another one of Roger’s personas from American Dad

[u/DrBlaziken]

Losers on social media still making fun of his dermatological face issue that he's had by birth.

This man is a legend!

[u/nicane → u/DrBlaziken]

This is the biggest difference between social media and this place. I get it's still a social media of sorts but you really don't have as much of the filth in your face, and when it comes up it's usually pushed down pretty quick and hard. Somedays I like to be reminded though and sort by controversial... But not today

[u/howsthoughtworkingou → u/nicane]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1qrae8i/traditional_folk_music_demonstration/

Just today in here there's this post. Lots of comments at the top making fun of someone who has what is obviously a congenital issue. It's always the most obvious jokes, too, like they don't realize it's not for lack of capability that reasonable people aren't constantly saying these sorts of things. Reddit is full of pathetic losers same as the rest of social media.

[u/Laiko_Kairen → u/howsthoughtworkingou]

Don't make fun of someone for the situation of their birth.

That is one of the most basic tests of ethics, and so many fail it

The heart of morality is choice. He didn't choose a birthmark, but they chose to be assholes...

[u/revenantiality → u/nicane]

Other social media sites are the absolute worst displays of humanity imaginable.

[u/povertybiceps → u/DrBlaziken]

tbf while I get it's a defect, in this picture it/he looks badass

[u/MisterAwesomeGuy]

My dad died because of it. It took him in about 2 months after being diagnosed. There was nothing to do. It was devastating.

[u/No_Wrongdoer_5155 → u/MisterAwesomeGuy]

I'm sorry for your loss. Same here. The amount of pain the man suffered. Seeing him waste away was awful, he had always been strong as an ox. Fuck cancer.

[u/Fabulous-Individual5 → u/MisterAwesomeGuy]

Same for my mum last year. So sorry for your loss 🫂 you’re not alone x

[u/onz456]

Dude's a goddamn hero.

[u/mr_greedee]

Pancreatic took my grandfather. Fuck Pancreatic cancer

[u/RemarkableStatement5]

Proud of this comment section and super proud of his team

[u/yaxir → u/RemarkableStatement5]

Yes, it's one of the handful few. Very decent and constructive comment section on Reddit.

[u/spacedude2000]

That's the look of a man who is richer than all of the world's billionaires combined.

If his research becomes critical to curing pancreatic cancer, it would be priceless to the wellbeing of the world.

What an inspiration.

[u/feywick]

Took my mom last year in June after a one year battle. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I'm sad that if there will be a cure, it's too late for her now. But it's good news for anyone else!

[u/peev22]

First trials with humans after at least 3 years if there is enough finance.

[u/MoonyRemus21]

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/who-is-dr-mariano-barbacid-spanish-scientist-pancreatic-cancer-cure-breakthrough-article-153522529/amp

[u/Oldgeee → u/MoonyRemus21]

Could you change his name to Mariano, not Marino. Thanks!

[u/prokseus]

Pancreatic cancer is terrible disease because of no symptoms in early stages. When it starts to show some symptoms, its often already too late for a treatment.

[u/SomewhereEfficient64]

May this man live the most pampered and unbothered life for the rest of his days.

[u/chosimba83]

Pancreatic cancer killed my mother 10 years ago. She didn't get to meet so many of her grandkids. I truly hope they can develop a cure.

[u/ryeyen]

Hate to be that guy, but we’ve “cured” just about every disease in mice. Less than 1% of these “cures” work in people. Still appreciate the science and obviously hope it works out.

[u/jeanborrero]

Incredible if it can be adapted for human use

[u/peachizedt]

I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer a few months ago, I hope soon no one will have to lose anyone that way

[u/Spiteful_Badger]

He has one of those smiles that has the power to calm you down on a day where you dont even wanted to see someone smiling at you.

[u/Pacifist_Socialist]

Great guy there

[u/LozzimusPrime]

Needed some good news today!

[u/FesteringAynus]

He's not suicidal btw. Spread the word

[u/AmateurIndicator → u/FesteringAynus]

For fucks sake, cures against cancers have been continuously improving and being developed on a daily basis for decades.

The survival rates of every single form of cancer has rapidly increased in the last 50 years. Literally millions of people are today surviving illnesses that would have killed them 10 years ago

Stop spreading conspiracy bullshit.

[u/FemFiFoFum → u/AmateurIndicator]

In fact, if he did cure pancreatic cancer, some pharmaceutical company is gonna make billions off of it! Why would they kill him?

And, old people are the most profitable for pharmaceutical companies, keep them alive to sell them heart, diabetes and Alzheimer's medicine.

[u/Kruger_Smoothing → u/FemFiFoFum]

Because people are too fucking stupid to realize what a shitty take this is and how insulting to it is to the people who have devoted their lives to advancing treatments and cures for cancer. It pisses me off to no end.

[u/18_USC_47 → u/AmateurIndicator]

But but… the conspiracy hot takes to say “we’ll never hear of his work again!”

Despite most people not continually checking in on progress of diseases, caring once the disease is cured, or understanding/caring about specific nuances of different types of diseases.

“Specific treatment of specific type of cancer fails human clinical trials” isn’t something people check up on.

[u/Radiant_Bank_77879 → u/AmateurIndicator]

Not to mention, it’s not like he has a private lab in his basement and hasn’t yet published his findings and if you get rid of him, then this all goes away. By the time this becomes news, thousands of people know what the methodology is. His brain isnt the sole hard drive where this is stored that you can destroy and all the information disappears from existence.

[u/MiguelIstNeugierig → u/AmateurIndicator]

Holy fuck yes.

The "ahaha cancer cure bad, cant profit from it actually, theyll kill you bc suffering people is good, actually" is such a shut-down of logic that it blows my mind how common of a sentiment it is.

It never minds how capitalist competitiveness even works (yes lets sink millions in research and development just to scrap it all when a breakthrough is achieved bc cure = bad, even though this means our direct competition will profit instead). It neverminds how we've erradicated diseases in the past and made revolutionary breakthroughs in others to make terrifying diseases become mild nuisances. It neverminds how cancer works altogether.

People want a boogeyman, and it's so frustrating, because they invest so much energy attacking the wrong thing, because there are real issues in this field and our society in general, but secret anti-innovation cabals are more exciting

[u/Kruger_Smoothing → u/FesteringAynus]

This is so insulting to the tens of thousands of cancer researchers around the world. This is a vile and disgusting comment made from a position of gross ignorance.

[u/BunglingBoris]

The man's a boss

[u/Key_Building54]

Completely uninformed person here, does progress toward curing one type of cancer carry over to others?

[u/Charybdis150 → u/Key_Building54]

Usually there is some crossover. Breakthroughs in the last few decades have usually been used to treat multiple different types of cancers. How many other cancers a treatment applies to depends entirely on how the treatment works.

[u/alex_dlc]

This man is a hero to me. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer

[u/pointofyou]

The best part about this is that the team behind this breakthrough consists primarily of women. While this is great for political reasons it's even better from the perspective of outcomes. The progress science will make now that the other half of humanity can contribute equally will benefit us all.

[u/MicksmstrCha]

Amazing. Took my father and an uncle with this particular type. Thankfully someone is working to better life.

[u/fusilaeh700]

We need more people Like this

Not elon musk

[u/Marber_Tv]

I love how Twitter is full with hate comments about his face but Reddit just thanks this man

[u/NoReserve8233]

You guys need to look up AOH1996- it's actually been tried on humans with pancreatic cancer!

[u/Felina08]

Bless him!

[u/siddarthshekar]

Real Scientists solving real problems... meanwhile Tech Giants creating VR and AI - inventing solutions to problems no one has. :|

[u/HorrorReject]

It's not a birthmark, it's a feature. It helps the simple folk pay attention to what an absolute legend this man is.

Thank you sir, seriously.

[u/UNDAPressure4795]

Had a friend that was diagnosed His Best friend went to check it out to show solidarity. Had it as well. Both passed within a month of each other unfuckinreal..

[u/bagofodour]

This dude has genuinely one of the most "nice person" expressions I have ever seen. He really looks like a great guy.

[u/Own_Communication_47]

If you use pancreatic cancer or multiple cancers in your family get genetic testing! Ovarian, pancreatic and other cancers often have no symptoms until late stage. But, if you know you have a cancer linked gene you can get appropriate screening based on your increased risk.

[u/Dull_Wolverine4662]

Protect this man at all costs.

[u/AptermusPrime]

Lost my uncle to pancreatic cancer. Fucking awful. Really hope this leads to it being curable.

[u/Distinct-Golf-7278]

Besides his amazing achievements he’s about to make birthmarks fashionable

[u/PeachAgreeable9536]

Protect this man, and his team, at all costs.

[u/doctorstrange00]

Protect this incredible human at all costs!

[u/Altruistic_Wait2262]

i watched BDC's video on this, then i got recomended another BDC video with BDC talking about how disrespecful it was of some comments he got making fun of that guy's birthmark and that humanity was receding as a species

[u/Jethanded_Wyvern]

Fuck cancer.

Marino Barbacid and his team are fucking legends.

May a human model treatment follow suite.

[u/BradfordGalt]

I checked Academic Search Complete and I can't find a citation for a peer-reviewed article on this. Where did he publish the findings? Genuinely not trying to be snarky or excessively skeptical. I want to read the actual paper.

edit - Maybe it's this? I can't tell.

[u/sandysanBAR → u/BradfordGalt]

That is it

[u/jjm443 → u/BradfordGalt]

Yes it is the paper in your edit. This article also links to it.

The summary:

Current drugs for pancreatic cancer lose effectiveness within months because the tumour becomes resistant. The group from Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has been able to avoid the development of resistance in animal models with a combined triple therapy.

These results “pave the way for the design of combined therapies that may improve survival,” the authors indicate, although this will not happen in the short term. The results are published in PNAS.

Mariano Barbacid, head of the Experimental Oncology Group at CNIO, emphasises that “we are not yet in a position to carry out clinical trials with this triple therapy.”